The sight of a backhoe sitting atop the ruins of the John Sunday House this weekend was heartbreaking to the hundreds of Pensacolians who had banded together to try to save the 115-year-old home.

It was heartbreaking to me, too.

As I learned about John Sunday through my reporting I became enthralled with his uniquely American story and convinced that his house must be preserved as a testament to Pensacola’s African-American history. Born to an enslaved woman and her white master, Sunday served in the Civil War alongside General Ulysses S. Grant before coming home to serve as a state legislator and city official during Reconstruction. In the heart of the Jim Crow South, Sunday somehow built a successful construction business that made him one of the wealthiest black men in America. He later led the establishment of the Belmont-Devilliers area as a black commercial district.

Beyond Sunday’s legacy, the house was one the few remaining original structures in the Tanyard, the historically black neighborhood west of downtown which has been decimated over the past four decades by redevelopment.

The case for preservation couldn’t have been stronger.

So why couldn’t we save it? Here’s the cold, hard, sad truth:

As a community, we didn’t care enough about this house because it was built and owned by a black man. If the home had been built by a white Confederate general, we’d have saved it. How do I know? Because we’ve been there and done that. Look no further than the Perry House at Palafox and Wright streets, onetime home to Confederate general Edward Aylesworth Perry, who would go on to serve as governor of Florida. Of course, Perry didn’t build that house. Hell, he never even owned it — his wife did. And Perry wasn’t even a Pensacola native — he was from Massachusetts. Somehow, though, Pensacola managed to save the house, which served for many years as a Scottish Rite Temple before being purchased by First Methodist Church in 2008.

Something tells me that if we found out Tristan de Luna or Andrew Jackson had camped at the site of the John Sunday House, we the community would have tripped over ourselves to protect the property from redevelopment. Can anyone imagine the outcry if someone suggested razing the Barkley House, Dorr House, Old Christ Church, or any of the other priceless historic structures that we’ve managed to save over the years?

Instead, we the community let a developer bypass our historic preservation processes to get his way. We let our mayor and our city attorney help him do it. And we let the John Sunday House get demolished on the day of the Blue Angels’ Pensacola Beach Airshow, which might as well be a sacred holiday in this city.

Since we couldn’t save the Sunday House, the least we can do is to be honest when we talk about the reason why. It wasn’t because nobody cared — they did. It wasn’t because the law was on the developer’s side — it wasn’t. It was because in 2016, we are still a city which values its European history more than its African-American history. We are still a city in which thousands will rise up to defend the Confederate Battle Flag — a racist, treasonous symbol — but could care less about the fate of a successful black man’s house.

I’m heartbroken about the loss of the John Sunday House, but I’m even more heartbroken about what it confirms about this city which I love with all my heart: when it comes to race issues, we have a long, long way to go.

16 Responses

Can’t say that you didn’t try to save the house. I never knew anything about it until you brought it up. The Sunday history is interesting. That it wasn’t interesting enough for that place to be a dedicated historical sight and taken off the market doesn’t mean race had anything to do with it though. Private property rights and eminent domain are, by definition, the issue. To say that race is the issue here is similar to the Baltimore prosecutor reaching her conclusion before the case was tried. And we know how that turned out. We know how many cops have been shot because of a false narrative. And I’m afraid it isn’t over yet. Instead of agreeing that this is about race, I’d give the benefit of the doubt to it just being an old house that the owner wanted to do something with.

Derek, i really enjoy your writing and coverage of Pensacola in The Pulse. I understand how people can get emotional about local history and the homes attached to it. However, divisive rhetoric will do nothing to help bring the people of our community together. I agree with Mr. Calloway above that this is about property rights of an individual and that race has nothing to do with it. Houses don’t make a community, the people that live in them do.

The epidemic of divisiveness is devouring the community and the country as a whole. It saddens me to see the Sunday House was torn down. But,that is Pensacola politics. Bypassing historic preservation efforts for money is just another stake in the heart of the city. The soul of Pensacola is slowly dying only to be replaced by development and lucrative businesses that are disconnected with the community. The Sunday House was a grave mistake that cannot be undone. Although, the one upside is that history will overshadow the people that this onus rests upon. People will remember who did what and why. That is now permanently indelible.

This is the dumbest and most ignorant thing I have ever read. To say that this house being demolished is a sign of racial division here because YOU are mad YOU lost this battle is obsurd. No one cared enough over the past 10 years to fix this house up which is why it’s been a bathroom for the homeless of pensacola…..THIS is why it’s being demolished.

Just another attempt to construct racial divide in the community. The so called activists are the problem by blaming everyone and sticking race into it. Where are these activists with real solutions to problems in this country. They don’t equality because they make money on keeping issues stirred up and racial divide continuing. If the black community wanted to save that house why didn’t they but it, get preservation money to fix it up and present it to the community for the historical aspect.

I think the Land Development Code needs to be comprehensively reviewed to put in new safeguards. The various boards dealing with the Land Development Code need to have their own legal counsel perhaps all different in case there is a difference of opinion between boards such as if the Planning Board is at odds with the Architectural Review Board. It cannot be that hard for the City Council Attorney acting on behalf of the City Council to contract for legal advisors to ensue that each board has a legal expert. If a building is to be demolished and is over a certain number of years old, perhaps UWF Historic Trust should be hired to tell us if the building is historically important and why. I’m still confused about how a building can be demolished prior to approval of the plan to replace it with something else. I’ve heard various stories, Eric Mead talked about this on Thursday at the end of a 6+ hour Council meeting and Carter Quina talked about it on Saturday at a meeting of the Pensacola Historic Preservation Association, the meeting about the John Sunday House but, in truth, more about the city’s discombobulated approach to historic preservation and cultural tourism with the left hand often working at cross purposes with the right hand and worse. You would think after all these years it would be a straight-forward process with benchmarks and safeguards and clearly defined purposes. Quina made the appoint that as of about 1 pm the John Sunday House still stood having no idea it was then being torn down. Perhaps everyone needs to wake up and deal with these issues before everything else gets knocked down and replaced by townhouses for hipsters or lawyers who need a place in the city if they work late and don’t want to fight the bridge traffic to get home to their place in Gulf Breeze Proper or the beach. The irony of the John Sunday House is that there is no shortage of vacant homes in the city to include in my District 1 Scenic Heights neighborhood. I can 3-4 from my front yard. Further, on the property tax argument, someone needs to tell the Council that property taxes only fund a small part of the city’s General Fund and because of how the Tax Increment Financing scheme works, 95% of the new City and County property taxes revenues resulting from the construction of the townhouses will benefit the Urban Core Community Redevelopment Area south of Cervantes Street between “A” Street and 17th Avenue. One group of people who have escaped criticism in this mess is the CRA Board led by its Chairwoman Jewel Cannada-Wynn. She could have put her foot down and weighed in but did not. In fact, the CRA could have bought the John Sunday House and restored it and put it to a use of benefit to the community. Cannada-Wynn’s chronic lack of CRA leadership is tragic.

Derek, A beautiful and moving article. Thank you for your efforts to save the John Sunday house and your efforts now and in the future to preserve Black history and Pensacola’s history. Your coverage has raised many issues our community needs to address, not just historic preservation, but racist.

I hate this place, full of racism and divide. I see why it’s the arm pit of Florida now. People here are stuck in the past. * news flash, you live in Florida, not Alabama!!* horrible culture. It will take more than beautiful beaches and vacationers to clean this place up. So much potential to be a jewel. SOME locals don’t want change.

Hey Mark, if you don’t like it move! Communities across the US are tired of liberal non-conformist trying to change the majority to their messed up lifestyles and warped sense of life. Communities sometimes don’t need to change to offer a fantastic way of life. Why is everything called racist? I know, it’s a easy meal ticket for you and all you slugs out there that refuse to conform and get a real job. You don’t know what racism is. I for one are tired of people like you and all the tree hugging, non-conforming liberals out there. You are the racist. Shut up and move to China or Iran if you don’t like it here!

Mr. Coleman, so let me make sure i understand you correctly. Half of Pensacola is in poverty, the job market is horrible, and the education system is one the worst in Florida by county and you consider this a fantastic way of life? I may have been a bit out of bounds with my initial remarks but, I’m not understanding how siding for community advacement is a liberal non-conformist point of view. It’s obvious your beloved mayor and largest investment group don’t agree with you with the push to attract jobs, in town living and development. Yes, racism does exist here. I don’t have to be African American to see that. So here’s the thing, I’m an official graduate from a highly prestigious university, work for a highly reputable fortune company that brought me here and play a role in community involvement. If this makes me a “slug” I’ll gladly wear that badge. Fyi China is not a bad place. Maybe if your fortunate enough to leave Pensacola and experience world wide travel you will see that as well.